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Will 97-01 XJ steering shafts work?
- Thread starter Yo
- Start date
you'll have to pull one and take a look
then report back to us
The 3 I had at one time was 88, 87, 93 I believe
no grand cherokees, those wont work
then report back to us
The 3 I had at one time was 88, 87, 93 I believe
no grand cherokees, those wont work
conman585
Registered Member
I pulled a 95 and 91 last week. They looked the same at the yard but I ended up only buying the 91. Sorry that didn't answer your question but I'd stick w/ what has worked for people so far. The swap was pretty straightforward.
So, to follow up, I'm not sure how you all are handling the double D fitting that comes out the steering column, bc the 97-01 XJ shaft I had wouldn't work. I kept reading ab swap in/swap out for XJ shafts up to '96 in 1983 and later GMs, but I don't see how this can be made to fit without modification. Granted, I have not handled a steering shaft from an XJ before 1997; do these models have a double d end or a splined end with a pinch bolt? In fact, the only part of the 97-01 shaft that would work is the lower joint that attaches to the steering box.
I had seen some threads where people would grind down the double d fitting at the column to make the ends fit, but of course I find that to be an incredibly halfassed way to modify one's steering, and I wasn't really trying to eliminate the upper ball and socket joint that GMs come factory with, since it was in good shape and really the ragjoint is the weak link.
Fist of all, the 97-01 steering shaft is too long, and must be trimmed to fit, even when fully collapsed.
Secondly, there aint no way the upper splined end was going to work on my double d column .
Finally, since the box end lower shaft from GM is the female end of the 2 part unit, and the box end lower shaft of the XJ was a male end, I wasn't able to simply swap the lower shaft in place of the GM unit w the ragjoint.
So, I decided to lop off the ragjoint, and use the Ujoint from the box end of XJ shaft since it fit the splined steering box shaft just fine. Since the GM ragjoint is essentially pressed to the lower shaft on a short double d keyed section, you can cut the ragjoint high enough to hammer off the remaining sleeve and expose fresh double d tubing. Then, you can cut the u joint off the box end of the XJ shaft, insert into the remaining double d shape at the bottom of the lower GM shaft, and weld around the circumference. Super strong and took 5 minutes.
I had seen some threads where people would grind down the double d fitting at the column to make the ends fit, but of course I find that to be an incredibly halfassed way to modify one's steering, and I wasn't really trying to eliminate the upper ball and socket joint that GMs come factory with, since it was in good shape and really the ragjoint is the weak link.
Fist of all, the 97-01 steering shaft is too long, and must be trimmed to fit, even when fully collapsed.
Secondly, there aint no way the upper splined end was going to work on my double d column .
Finally, since the box end lower shaft from GM is the female end of the 2 part unit, and the box end lower shaft of the XJ was a male end, I wasn't able to simply swap the lower shaft in place of the GM unit w the ragjoint.
So, I decided to lop off the ragjoint, and use the Ujoint from the box end of XJ shaft since it fit the splined steering box shaft just fine. Since the GM ragjoint is essentially pressed to the lower shaft on a short double d keyed section, you can cut the ragjoint high enough to hammer off the remaining sleeve and expose fresh double d tubing. Then, you can cut the u joint off the box end of the XJ shaft, insert into the remaining double d shape at the bottom of the lower GM shaft, and weld around the circumference. Super strong and took 5 minutes.
